The Women’s Suffrage Movement- for the beginning we have to go back in history to October 28th 1886, when President Grover Cleveland took the stage on Liberty Island, New York. He dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France representing freedom and democracy. But suddenly women’s rights leader Lillie Devereux Blake and 200 tother women sail by on a boat. They/re golding a sign that reads “American women have no liberty”. At this time women in the USA didn’t have many rights. And they haven’t had it since the first settlers arrived. That time:
-Women weren’t encouraged to go to college (few colleges for women existed anyway).
-Women were expected to marry and care for their children, husbands, and households.
-Once women did marry, they were entirely dependent on their husbands.
-Women couldn’t own property, and they had to give any money they made over to their husbands to manage them.
-Women weren’t allowed to vote.
By the mid -1800s women started to fight back, demanding suffrage, or the right to vote. These women were called “Suffragists”. Women were fighting for theirs rights for so long by small steps e.g strikes with amount of 300 women. These women been putting masking tape on their mouths which had to show that they don’t have a right to speech. Other popular move was protest signs and popular sentence these days was “How long must women wait for liberty”. However the biggest impact started in 1917, when the USA entered World War 1. Many men went to Europe fight, and many women volunteered there as nurses. Women also filled Jons in the states that had been held by the men now overseas. Realizing how important women were, President Woodrow Wilson changed his mind about the suffrage movement and started supporting women’s right to vote. Unfortunately most of these women were white, and other races had to keep fighting for their rights.
In 1935, Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former enslaved people, founded the National Council of Negro Women to advocate for more equal opportunities for Black women in housing, education, employment, and healthcare. The organization still exists today.
In 1972, thanks to the ongoing strong voices from women, Congress passed Title IX, a law that makes it illegal for schools to discriminate based on gender.
In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice. In 2007, Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House.
Today, women around the world continue to be inspiration for other women in other countries to fight for their rights. It’s sad that in 21 century not all of people have liberty. In my opinion that movements are necessary and should be promulgated.
